Across the Nation

Published: Wednesday, November 18, 2009

SALT LAKE CITY

Seven years after she was abducted at knifepoint, Elizabeth Smart finally has an apology - and a guilty plea - from one of her kidnappers.

"I am so sorry, Elizabeth, for all the pain and suffering I have caused you and your family," Wanda Eileen Barzee, 64, said Tuesday. "It is my hope that you will be able to find it in your heart to forgive me."

The appeal came minutes after Barzee pleaded guilty to federal charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor in U.S. District Court.

NEW YORK

Sarah Palin said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that a 2012 presidential bid is "not on my radar," but wouldn't rule out playing some role in the next presidential election.

"My ambition, if you will, my desire is to help our country in whatever role that may be, and I cannot predict what that will be, what doors will be open in the year 2012," she told Barbara Walters.

When asked whether she'd play a major role, the former Republican vice presidential candidate replied that "if people will have me, I will."

BRIEFLY ...

l CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Atlantis' astronauts scoured their ship Tuesday for any signs of launch damage while pursuing the International Space Station. The early word was that the shuttle appeared to be in good shape.

l SALT LAKE CITY - Authorities say a Salt Lake City woman told them she gave her 9-month-old daughter to a suspected drug dealer because she was homeless, addicted to methamphetamine and unable to care for the girl.

l LEXINGTON, Mo. - Detectives in Missouri are investigating whether members of a family already charged with sexually abusing children may have also killed several people. A search warrant returned Tuesday includes few details, and none about the identities of the victims of the alleged slayings or how many may have actually occurred.

l BOSTON - A Scottish man who was branded unruly and disruptive by the flight crew on a Philadelphia-to-London jet that was diverted to Boston has been ordered held on $300 bail. Prosecutors say Glasgow resident John Alexander Murray's arm was in a splint and he refused the crew's requests to keep it out of the aisle. They say he then became belligerent and demanded to be taken back to Philadelphia.